State DAiitY association. 481 



series that is certain sooii to gain for man the victory over pestilence. 

 Liebig coukl show tliat alcohol was sugar oxidized; that acetic acid- 

 vinegar — was alcohol oxidized; the oxidation was without noticeable 

 Waste, and he concluded that the (jxygeu of the air caused the change. 

 Pasteur noticed wliat many of ns have often noticed — that cider or wine 

 will sometimes quicl<ly turn t6 vinegar; at other times it will not. I can 

 i-emeinber when my father and every other farmer had his 



"Sixteen barrels of cider 

 llipening all in a row." 



Sometimes we wanted to keep some of it to drinli, but could not; 

 boiling would delay tlie souring somewhat, but it would not prevent it. 

 At other times, having no vinegar, we wanted the cider to sour, but it 

 would not. We put tea grounds in it; tried all the recipes of all the old 

 ladies of both sexes in the entire community, but it would not sour. 

 Pasteur believed that there was some unknown reason for this. He was 

 made president of a college in France, located in a rural community, in 

 wliieh the chief industry was the grape culture. The farmers had more 

 wine and less vinegar than they could sell. Pasteur believed that useful 

 knowledge had educational value as well as theoretical and ornamental 

 knowledge. He further believed that a college ought to help the com- 

 munity in which it was situated. He accordingly turned his back on 

 physics, in which he liad already made brilliant discoveries, and addressed 

 himself to the problem: "How can I help this community— turn its wine, 

 for whi(^i it has no market, into vinegar, for which it has a market?" 

 He put wine that was turning into vinegar from all procurable sources 

 under the microscope and found that it always contained a certain micro- 

 organism; he put Avine that refused to sour under and never found it. He 

 raised a pure culture of this organism— mycoderma aceti— by sowing it in 

 sterilized wine and found that a little of this culture added to wine that 

 would not sour always gave vinegar. The announcement that wine in 

 any quantity could be turned into vinegar in ten days did not hurt the 

 school that made it, nor did it discourage the boys to know that the 

 community consulted their master. 



The wine was also subject to diseases. Sometimes it would become 

 viscid, and sometimes sour, and was worthless in either case. Pasteur 

 discovered the micro-organisms that caused these diseases, and found a 

 remedy for them. The germs that caused them could lie killed in the 

 bottled wine by heating it for a little while up to 150 degrees F., after 

 which it could be shipped round the earth and not spoil. 



Pasteur next rendered a similar seiwice to the beer industry. He as- 

 certained the causes of its deterioration and what ferments would add to 

 its value. He set for himself the task of maldng above ground, and in 

 a short time as good a quality of beer as could be made in Germany at 



31— Agriculture. 



